Goldman began writing the script in 1971, deriving inspiration from his encounters with dysfunctional couples. He spent several years trying to secure a major film studio to produce it before taking it to 20th Century Fox. Parker learned of the script as he was developing Fame (1980), and he later worked with Goldman to rewrite it. After an unsuccessful pre-production development at Fox, Parker moved the project to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which provided a budget of $12 million. Principal photography lasted 62 days, in the period from January to April 1981, on location in Marin County.

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In Marin County, California, writer George Dunlap and his wife Faith are an unhappy couple who live with their daughters Sherry, Jill, Marianne and Molly in a farmhouse that George has refurbished. George is preparing to attend an awards banquet in his honor, when he receives a phone call from Sandy, a single mother with whom he has begun an affair. Sherry, the oldest of the four children, picks up the phone and listens in on the conversation.

After the kids leave for school the next morning, Faith expresses her suspicions of the affair, prompting George to leave and move into his beach house. Sherry refuses to speak to George, while her sisters visit George on weekends. Jill, Marianne and Molly also meet Sandy, who harbors cynicism towards them and views them as a distraction in her sexual affair with George.

Faith falls into depression, but is elated when she begins a relationship with Frank Henderson, a contractor she has hired to build a tennis court on the grove of the farmhouse. One day, George visits the farmhouse, aggressively requesting to Faith that he be able to give Sherry her birthday present, a typewriter. George grows frustrated upon meeting Frank and seeing the construction work being done to the yard. George returns to the home later that night, again demanding that he be able to give Sherry her present. When Faith refuses to let him in, George breaks the door apart, pushes her out of the house, and blocks the entrance door with a chair. After Sherry refuses the gift, George spanks her repeatedly. The other children try to fight him off, but George does not relent until after Sherry threatens him with a pair of scissors. After letting herself back into the house, Faith comforts a sobbing Sherry, and George leaves ashamed.

George and Faith go to court to begin the first stage of their divorce proceedings, which involves joint custody of the children. After the court hearing, Faith tells George that her father has been hospitalized. At the hospital, they both downplay the disintegration of their marriage, but Faith's father senses that they are lying, and dies shortly thereafter.

After the funeral, George finds Faith having dinner at a restaurant and joins her. They have a heated, passionate exchange, arguing about their relationship before getting drunk. They go to a hotel room where Faith and the children are staying, and have sex. After Sherry enters Faith's bedroom and finds them lying in bed, Faith asks George to leave.

When the tennis court is completed, Faith and Frank throw an outdoor party at the farmhouse. Sherry scorns her mother for having sex with George and Frank before running away. She runs to George's beach house where she sees her father playing a game of Hearts with Sandy and her son. George looks out the window and sees Sherry sitting on a pier. He goes to comfort her and as they reconcile, he gives Sherry the typewriter.

George returns Sherry to the farmhouse, where Faith invites him to visit the tennis court and meet Frank's friends. Under a seemingly friendly facade, George praises Frank for his work on the tennis court. He then goes into his car and crashes into the court repeatedly until it is demolished. Enraged, Frank pulls George out of the car and beats him relentlessly before walking away. As the children try to comfort their father, George reaches out his hand and calls out for Faith.

Shoot the Moon was Bo Goldman's first attempt at writing a screenplay and was originally developed under the title Switching. He began writing the script in 1971, influenced by his encounters with dysfunctional couples and how their disputes affected their children.[6] "When I started to write this screenplay years ago," he said, "I looked around me and all the marriages were collapsing, and the real victims of these marital wars were the children."[6]

In their search for actors, Parker and casting director Juliet Taylor held open casting calls in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. For the role of George Dunlap, Parker first approached Jack Nicholson, who declined due to the script's subject matter. Parker then approached English film and stage actor Albert Finney, whom he had admired.[2] On portraying George, Finney said, "It required personal acting; I had to dig into myself. When you have to expose yourself and use your own vulnerability, you can get a little near the edge. Scenes where Diane Keaton and I really have to go at each other reminded me of times when my own behavior has been monstrous."[8]

Diane Keaton was cast as Faith Dunlap, George's wife. Parker had first discussed the role with her as the actress was preparing to film Reds (1981). He also discussed the role with Meryl Streep, who declined due to her pregnancy.[2] Keaton agreed to star in the film after the project was taken to MGM.[2] She described the film as "the war of a man and a woman who are breaking up and how the woman is crushed by this man going off an having an affair with someone else."[9]

The film was made on a budget of $12 million.[3]Principal photography commenced on January 15, 1981.[2] During pre-production at 20th Century Fox, Parker, producer Alan Marshall and production designerGeoffrey Kirkland spent several months searching for houses to depict the Dunlap family home. They discovered the Roy Ranch House, an abandoned, 114-year-old clapboardranch house in San Francisco.[10] The production dismantled the house into four pieces, which were then transported to the Nicasio Valley region of Marin County, California. The filmmakers spent six weeks restoring and decorating the house, as well as constructing a driveway, gardens and a tennis court.[2]

After working on the musical Fame, Parker had decided not to employ an original score for Shoot the Moon. Goldman selected the song "Don't Blame Me" from MGM's music library to be used in the film. The song is featured as a minimalist piano score that acts as a leitmotif. Parker stated, "I had it played on a piano with one finger—like a child would play, with innocent simplicity."[2][11] The film also features pre-recorded songs, including "Play with Fire" performed by The Rolling Stones and "Still the Same" performed by Bob Seger.[12] Parker explained that he had the songs "selfishly chosen because they were contemporary songs that meant a lot to me personally."[2]

After post-production had concluded in October 1981, Parker had planned to release Shoot the Moon before the end of the year for awards consideration, but a clause in Keaton's contract stipulated that the film could not be released until a year later to avoid competition with her previous film Reds.[10] MGM gave Shoot the Moon a platform release, first releasing it in New York City, Toronto and Los Angeles on January 22, 1982.[10] The film was released nationwide on February 19, 1982.[10] It was a box-office failure,[13] grossing $9,217,530 against a production budget of $12 million.[2][3][5]

In 1986, the distribution rights to the film were transferred to Turner Entertainment, which acquired MGM's pre-May 1986 library of feature films.[14] Currently, the rights are owned by Warner Bros., after its parent company Time Warner acquired Turner's library of MGM films in 1996.[15]

Film critics Pauline Kael and David Denby, who had been dismissive of Parker's previous films, praised Shoot the Moon as his best directorial effort.[18][19]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times appreciated the storytelling, stating, "Despite its flaws, despite its gaps, despite two key scenes that are dreadfully wrong, Shoot the Moon contains a raw emotional power of the sort we rarely see in domestic dramas."[20] In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby commended the acting, notably the performances of Finney, Keaton, Allen and Peter Weller, and compared the film to Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Ordinary People (1980), describing it as "a domestic comedy of sometimes terrifying implications, not about dolts but intelligent, thinking beings."[21]Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune called the film "an exceptionally strong family drama, with enough surprises to qualify as lifelike."[22]

A negative review carried by Variety termed the film "a grim drama of marital collapse which proves disturbing and irritating by turns."[23] Dan Callahan of Slant Magazine praised the performances, but criticized Parker's direction, writing, "Unfortunately, Shoot the Moon has some serious problems that get in the way of [Keaton and Finney's] unforgettable performances ... Though Parker’s way of going for the jugular can be very effective in the big moments, he lets lots of small, deliberately banal domestic scenes just dribble away."[24]